Kurukuru will need to wait: FIFA Futsal World is postponed

COVID-19 pandemics forces one more major sport tournament to be postponed; and it will directly affect Solomon Islands most succesful sport. The FIFA Futsal World Cup that was scheduled to take place this year was postponed by FIFA to 2021. “The Bureau of the FIFA Council made the decision to following a thorough assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recommendations made by the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group“, mentioned SIFF Media.

The Kurukuru – Solomon Islands national futsal team – is qualified for the tournament for the fourth time in a row after beating New Zealand in the penalty shootout in the grand final match last year in the OFC Futsal Nations Cup held in New Caledonia. Recently, SIFF had already announced a provisional squad for trainings in order to prepare for the World Cup – but now they will have plenty of time to get ready for this very important challenge.

“The Solomon Islands national futsal team, Kurukuru will have ample time to prepare for the World Cup as FIFA has postponed the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania and rescheduled the tournament to run from 12 September – 3 October 2021“, wrote SIFF Media.

The Solomon Islands head coach, the Brazilian Vinícius Leite, told recently in interview to RNZ that “as soon as we are able to train together we can hopefully bring the team over to Australia and continue with our preparations and to at least have two international overseas training camps“.

Solomon Islands government until imposes barriers that do not allow the team to train due COVID-19 concerns. According to William Lai, SIFF president, it is expected that travel restriction is lifted by the government in the following weeks, allowing the Kurukuru to get back to action.